The weather unleashed a fair amount of frozen precipitation on area roadways Wednesday afternoon, but Pope County law enforcement officials said when all was said and done on Thursday morning, there was a low number of accidents.

Russellville Police Department (RPD) Public Information Officer Drew Latch said motorists took heed of warnings to be careful and stay off the roads.

“We were happy that people listened to road condition warnings,” Latch said. “Also, we were proud of the community’s response. Once street conditions deteriorated, people went home and stayed.”

According to the RPD traffic report, 20 vehicles were involved in collisions and accidents that ended with a vehicle sliding off the icy road. There was one reported injury, Latch said.

“Five vehicles slid off Skyline Drive. This was before we could close the road,” Latch said,

The moisture on the road quickly froze, he said. There were no accidents reported after 6 p.m. Wednesday.

“There were still patches of ice and the threat of black ice,” Latch said Thursday.

“Other than the school bus incident, everything else went fine,” Pope County Sheriff Aaron DuVall said, referring to a wreck Wednesday evening. “There were no major accidents, but a lot of cars slid off into the ditch.”

DuVall was glad folks listened to warnings. When the storm rolled in, he said, “They gotta get home and let this thing pass and clear up.

“A deputy working the graveyard shift informed me that around 5 a.m. Thursday, the roads were wet and bridges were slick,” DuVall said.

“Maybe they will go get the bus today,” he said. “We were fortunate the bus didn’t turn over.”

The students and bus driver have all returned home.

A spokesman with the Arkansas State Police (ASP) said Thursday his department had no major issues and just a couple of wrecks attributed to the weather.”

“We had an influx of wrecks reported on Interstate 40 and secondary roads on Wednesday,” Drown said. “No fatal or major injuries; it was mostly property damage.”

According to ASP reports, troopers worked six accidents, three of them on secondary roads.